There is no universal size curve for scrubs, and any plan that starts from one is guessing. Women's, men's and unisex fits distribute across sizes differently, tops and bottoms do not sell at the same rate, and a facility full of tall staff needs a completely different mix than a general community clinic. The only reliable starting point is your specific customer, not an industry rule of thumb.
I am Carina Hatton, boutique owner since 2013 and ecommerce coach since 2019. This guide walks through the structural decisions in scrub inventory planning: how to think about size runs across fits, tops versus bottoms versus sets, colour depth, petite and tall sizing, specialty and medical accessories, and the breadth versus depth tradeoff. All quantities below are hypothetical illustrations to show the shape of a decision, not a recommended buy.
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Open the Boutique Inventory Planner →Why there is no universal scrub size curve
General apparel buyers sometimes lean on a rough industry size curve as a starting point. Scrubs do not have a single equivalent, and treating them as if they do leads to broken runs and dead stock. A few reasons the curve varies so much by store:
- A nursing student cohort skews toward the age and body range typical of students entering that programme locally, which is not the same range as an experienced hospital staff.
- A men's fit line and a women's fit line distribute across sizes differently, and a unisex fit spreads differently again, so you cannot apply one size ratio across all three.
- Facility dress codes and physically demanding roles can shift demand toward certain fits, such as more stretch or a looser cut, in ways a generic apparel size curve would not predict.
- Regional and demographic differences between one clinic's staff and another's are real and specific to your location, not something a national average smooths over.
The only dependable source for your size curve is your own customer, either through advance sign-up for a group order, direct conversations with a facility contact, or early sales data once you are open. Do not import someone else's size ratio and assume it fits your store.
Women's, men's and unisex fits
| Fit category | What it typically covers | Planning consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Women's | Fitted through the waist and hip, often with more style and colour variety | Usually needs the widest size range and the deepest colour selection of the three |
| Men's | Straighter cut, generally fewer colour and print options per line | A smaller assortment can still serve this customer well if your facility or clinic mix supports it |
| Unisex | A single straight-cut fit marketed to any gender | Simplifies your size run but may underserve customers who prefer a fitted option |
If you serve a mixed workforce, which most facility and clinic customers are, carrying at minimum a women's and a men's or unisex option in your core colours is usually more useful than a single fit stretched to try to serve everyone. Confirm which fits a facility's staff actually prefer before committing to a group order in only one fit category.
Tops, bottoms and sets
Scrub tops and bottoms often sell at different rates, and how you buy them affects both your cash and your ability to fill mismatched sizing needs.
- Pre-matched sets are simplest to merchandise and to sell as a single unit, and work well for group orders where everyone needs the same look quickly.
- Separates let a customer buy a top in one size and a bottom in a different size, which matters more in this category than in most apparel because scrub fit needs can differ meaningfully between top and bottom.
- Top-to-bottom ratio is worth tracking once you have sales data, since tops and bottoms frequently do not sell one-to-one. Some customers replace tops more often due to visible wear or personalisation, while others wear through bottoms faster. Track your own ratio rather than assuming a fixed split.
A workable starting structure, hypothetically, is to buy your first order primarily as sets to keep the initial buy simple, then shift toward separates as you learn your customers' actual top and bottom size relationship from early sales or a group order sign-up sheet.
Colour depth
Colour is where scrub inventory planning differs most sharply from general apparel, because colour is frequently a requirement rather than a preference.
| Colour category | Planning approach |
|---|---|
| Facility or department-required colours | Stock these deepest and prioritise suppliers who confirm the colour is part of their core, reorderable line |
| Popular general colours | Carry a moderate depth across your core sizes to serve walk-in and online shoppers without a facility requirement |
| Seasonal or print options | Buy shallow and treat as a test, since these are less likely to be reorderable and less likely to be facility-required |
Before committing significant budget to any colour, confirm with your supplier whether that specific colour is part of a stable production run or a limited release. A group order built around a colour that turns out to be seasonal can leave you unable to complete the order or fulfil a reorder request months later.
Petite, tall and extended sizing
Medical and allied health workforces include a wide range of body types and heights, and skipping petite, tall or extended sizing is one of the more common gaps in a new scrub boutique's opening buy.
- Petite sizing matters for inseam and overall proportion, and a standard-length bottom hemmed at home is a workaround, not a substitute for stocking the actual size.
- Tall sizing matters for the same reason in the opposite direction, and is frequently underserved by general retail, which can make it a genuine point of loyalty if you carry it well.
- Extended sizing serves a meaningful part of the medical workforce and is worth planning deliberately from the start rather than adding later, since customers who cannot find their size once tend not to check back.
Decide how deep to go in each of these based on direct knowledge of your customer, whether from a facility's staff roster, a school's cohort information, or early sales, rather than skipping them by default. If plus size fit specifically is a priority for your store, the general principles in how to start a plus size boutique apply to sizing depth even outside the scrub category.
Specialty and medical accessories
Accessories add ticket value and repeat visits, but a scattered accessory buy dilutes your budget without meaningfully helping any one customer. A few categories worth considering, chosen based on your specific customer rather than all at once:
- Compression or specialty socks for staff on their feet for long shifts
- Scrub caps and bouffants, which are frequently required or preferred and easy to personalise
- Badge reels, lanyards and small accessories that work well as low-cost add-ons at checkout
- Footwear such as clogs or supportive shoes, a higher-ticket category that may warrant its own inventory plan rather than a side addition
Pick two or three accessory categories that match your primary customer well, rather than trying to stock every adjacent product on your first order. You can add categories once you know which ones your actual customers ask for.
Breadth versus depth
This is the same tension that runs through every retail category, and it plays out with particular consequences in scrubs because of group orders.
Breadth = number of different styles, colours or prints carried
Depth = quantity held per size within each style or colour
A hypothetical: with a fixed opening budget, a store that spreads it across many colours and prints will have a broader, more visually varied floor but shallower size coverage in each one, which risks broken sizes quickly and makes group orders harder to fill in full. A store that concentrates the same budget on a small number of core, facility-relevant colours in full size runs will look less varied but will be far better positioned to complete a group order or a reorder request without gaps.
For a scrub boutique specifically, depth in core colours generally serves group and facility business better, while breadth in seasonal colours generally serves individual walk-in and online shoppers better. Decide which customer you are prioritising for your opening buy, then weight your budget accordingly rather than splitting evenly by default. The general framework for this tradeoff, including how to apply it across any boutique category, is covered in retail assortment planning and how many SKUs a small boutique should carry.
Sizing your opening budget realistically
General guidance on how much to spend on opening inventory still applies as a base, and is covered in how much inventory to start a boutique. On top of that base, a scrub-specific plan needs to account for the extra depth required by any facility or group order you already have lined up, since those commitments are not optional inventory the way a seasonal print run is. If you have a facility order confirmed before you open, treat that quantity as a floor for your relevant colours and sizes, not part of your general variety budget.
Tracking sales and setting reorder points
Once you are open, the size and colour plan you started with should stop being a guess and start being informed by your own numbers. A simple reorder system beats an elaborate one you never actually maintain.
| Metric to track | Why it matters for scrubs |
|---|---|
| Sell-through by size within each colour | Reveals whether your size curve for that colour matches your actual customer, not just whether the colour overall is popular |
| Top-to-bottom sales ratio | Tells you whether you are over-buying one and under-buying the other relative to how customers actually shop your store |
| Days from order to delivery, by supplier | Lets you set a reorder point that accounts for real lead time instead of guessing and running out mid-cycle |
| Facility and group order frequency | Helps you decide how much of your core colour depth should be held back specifically for anticipated group orders |
A reorder point is simply the stock level at which you place a new order so the replacement stock arrives before you sell out, based on your typical sales pace and your supplier's real lead time. Set this per size and colour combination for your core, fast-moving lines rather than using one blanket number across your whole assortment, since a popular size in a required facility colour needs a much tighter reorder point than a slow seasonal print.
A hypothetical opening order, worked through
To make the breadth-versus-depth decision concrete, here is a fully hypothetical example with invented numbers, meant only to illustrate how the reasoning works, not to suggest actual quantities for any real store.
Imagine a new scrub boutique planning to serve a local hospital unit that has informally expressed interest in a group order, plus general walk-in and online customers. With a hypothetical opening apparel budget split into thirds: one third goes to the unit's required colour in a full size run of both women's and men's fits, sized generously since a group order is anticipated. Another third goes to two or three additional core colours in moderate depth across the most common sizes, to serve everyday walk-in and online demand. The final third goes to a small assortment of seasonal prints and colours in shallow depth, treated as a test rather than a core commitment.
This split is not a formula to copy. It illustrates the underlying logic: known or likely group order commitments get the deepest, most size-complete treatment, general demand gets moderate depth, and untested variety gets the smallest, most limited bet. Adjust the actual proportions to your own confirmed commitments and your own budget.
Markdown risk by category
Not all scrub inventory carries the same risk of ending up marked down, and understanding which categories are more exposed helps you decide where to buy conservatively.
- Core, facility-required colours carry the lowest markdown risk, since demand for a required colour tends to be steady and predictable as long as the facility relationship continues.
- Popular general colours carry moderate risk, since they are not tied to a specific requirement but tend to have broad enough appeal to sell through in normal time.
- Seasonal prints and limited colours carry the highest markdown risk, since they are inherently short-lived by design and do not benefit from a repeat facility order to move remaining stock.
- Extended, petite or tall sizing in a color you have confirmed real demand for actually tends to carry lower markdown risk than assumed, since this sizing is often underserved elsewhere and a real customer for it does not have as many other places to buy.
Weighting your buy toward the lower-risk categories above is especially important for your very first order, before you have sales data of your own to lean on.
Common inventory planning mistakes
- Copying a size curve from a general apparel guide. Scrub sizing does not behave the same way, and your actual customer is the only reliable source.
- Buying sets only, with no separates. Some customers need a different size top and bottom, and a sets-only buy cannot serve them.
- Skipping petite, tall or extended sizes to save budget. This excludes real customers, and word gets around a small medical community quickly.
- Buying seasonal colours as deep as core colours. Seasonal prints carry more markdown risk and rarely support a facility reorder months later.
- Spreading the whole budget across too many colours. Broken size runs across many shallow colours sell worse than full runs in fewer, better-chosen colours.
Where to start
Confirm your primary customer and any group order commitments before you place a single wholesale order. Build your size and colour plan around what that customer actually needs, hold accessories to a small, focused list, and lean toward depth in your core colours if group and facility orders are part of your plan. Once your inventory plan is set, the supplier questions and sourcing routes in wholesale scrubs for boutiques will help you find a supplier who can actually deliver against it.